Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

ATTRIBUTION:

SAMUEL JOHNSON,The Idler, no. 30, November 11, 1758.

A more succinct version is: The first casualty when war comes is truth, attributed to Senator Hiram Johnson, remarks in the Senate, 1918.The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases, ed. Burton Stevenson, p. 2445 (1948). Unverified.